Quality policy

A quality approach is a commitment which, by its very essence, intends to involve all members of the university community. By promoting this approach in our institution, we invite each and every one to contribute actively, both in defining our "quality" objectives and in implementing our continuous improvement projects. Our core values of participation and collective intelligence are thus fully expressed within the quality approach at UNamur.

This commitment by all will enable us to move towards a more efficient institution, with processes defined or redefined to best meet everyone's needs, and to meet the challenges of our ever-changing world. Our priorities must nevertheless remain realistic and concrete, in order to preserve our resources. Better organization and the provision of more efficient IT tools should, in time, lighten the administrative burden on staff so that they can concentrate on their fundamental missions: teaching, research and service to society.

Finally, the audiences we serve are also at the heart of our quality approach. Whether they are students, our public and private partners or, more generally, the players in the society that surrounds us at regional, national or international level, everyone will benefit from the continuous and constant improvement of our organization, tools and processes.

• L'ouverture au monde dans ses missions de création et de transmission de savoirs mais aussi dans sa conception des relations aux autres.
• Lexcellence visée dans chaque de ses missions, dans une démarche résolument humaine, intégrant la proximité, la solidarité et le respect.
• Un acteur responsable de la construction d'une société soutenable au niveau environnemental, social et sociétal. It aims for the well-being of each and every one of its members: students, researchers, teachers and employees.
• The freedom of opinion by defending the autonomy and responsibility of individuals. It fosters collective intelligence, the creation of knowledge and innovation.

In keeping with its values, the University of Namur has defined how its quality approach fits into its overall strategy through the desire to:

• to position itselfin the landscape of the Wallonia-Brussels Federation, with a clear, shared and recognized identity, by offering ambitious and meaningful training courses, continuing to develop cutting-edge research, and pursuing its internationalization in line with its specific features ;
• to develop, by being increasingly attractive to students, researchers and staff members alike;
• to intensify its culture of proximity and guarantee a quality of life on campus, through clear and transparent communication enabling links between all to be rebuilt, through recognition of everyone's roles and missions within the institution ;
• develop tools that contribute to theefficiency of its organization, enable rapid decision-making and strengthen expenditure control;
• innovate in its teaching and research missions, by supporting emerging and creative projects, as well as in its way of transferring knowledge to society;
• draw lessons from the health crisis to integrate them into its ambitions for development, proximity, efficiency and innovation.

What does being part of a quality approach mean for our university?

First and foremost, it's important to make a clear distinction between quality and the quality approach. Quality is experienced systematically and daily in all our tasks and activities within the institution through our quest for excellence in each of our missions. We do everything in our power to provide training open to all, as well as high-quality services and research.

The quality approach focuses on the processes put in place to achieve our quality objectives, such as quality of life on campus, innovative and high-quality teaching, effective communication, and support for research projects. It enables us to maintain a mindset of seeking continuous improvement, through internal and external evaluation processes, strategic objectives monitored and tools developed to achieve them.

How is the quality approach implemented at our University?

We are developing this approach around three major action themes:

• the internal and external evaluations of our programs and research, but also of our institutional management;
• continuous improvement projects (implementation of new tools, seeking to simplify processes and increase performance);
• the visibility for and by our peers and their informal feedback (through rankings, our publications...)..).

Our institution is organized around our three missions and the stakeholders that make it up:

• our mission of training, teaching which enables us to deliver quality training leading to CFC-recognized diplomas at national and European level, as well as training certificates;
• our mission of research and development which gives our researchers the opportunity to tackle society's problems without limits in the subjects proposed ;
• our mission of service to society which enables us to share the knowledge acquired through our research in a variety of ways; non-certificatory training, conferences, publications, support for secondary school teachers, provision of analysis techniques, spin-off development...

All these missions are undertaken by and for the various stakeholders of our institution:

• internal stakeholders; students, our teachers, scientists, administrative, technical and management staff, etc.
• external stakeholders: internship supervisors, our guest members, industrial and academic partners, FNRS, ARES, etc.

Our approach ensures better control of our processes and the development of a culture of collaborative continuous improvement. It enables us to meet the needs and expectations of all our stakeholders, both internal and external, in a sustainable way. The quality policy must serve as an engine for progress or a foundation for the development of our projects, while guaranteeing regular feedback on our quality systems

The aim of this approach is to strive for continuous improvement in our processes in order, above all, to guarantee the quality:

• of our teaching;
• of our services;
• of the working environment for our students, our staff;
• of our communications between the various stakeholders.